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It’s Amazon and no one else at the center of shoppers’ attention

Amazon.com Inc. dominated online shoppers’ attention throughout November and the key, competitive Thanksgiving holiday weekend, a new study finds.

The online retailer, No. 1 in the Internet Retailer 2015 Top 500 Guide, captured consumers’ attention and did so with authority, according to a study by research firm Kantar Media, research firm Millward Brown Digital and social media intelligence platform Unmetric.

In November, before Thanksgiving, Amazon’s average daily “share of attention” was nearly 35%. Nine other retail websites combined had about a 13% share of time spent on site and were led by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (No. 3 in the Top 500), Target Corp. (No. 16) and Best Buy Co. (No. 14) during that period (Nov. 2-25).

Millward Brown examined online usage data to 147 shopping sites from its consumer panel of more than 1 million households to identify shopping sites visited and amount of time spent. Data is based on PC device usage; mobile traffic was not included. Data was tabulated Nov. 2-30 (Cyber Monday).

Site visit patterns shifted on Thanksgiving. Amazon’s share of attention increased about 6% that day, but other retailers with smaller online consumer bases experienced 100% jumps, including Best Buy, Nordstrom Inc. (No. 19 in the Top 500) and JC Penney Co. (No. 37), the study says.

Patterns changed again on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, with share of attention for most sites, including Amazon, dipping from Thanksgiving Day but still above pre-holiday benchmarks. Cyber Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving, brought still more shifts. “Amazon attention levels grew slightly but almost all of the other stores had their lowest daily share of the five-day holiday weekend. Target was one of the few to grow attention share from the weekend to Cyber Monday, undoubtedly due to its 15% off sitewide sale,” according to the study.

“Amazon’s ability to grow share of attention, hold it through the core five-day period and maintain its already significant advantage versus primary competitors during the core four-day stretch is a noteworthy achievement,” the study says. “Even on its slowest day (Black Friday), it had an 8:1 advantage in share of attention versus its nearest competitor and more traffic than the combined total of the other nine retailers we studied.”

Amazon did not outspend all its rivals, at least not yet. Wal-Mart leads so far in total advertising spending this holiday season, with $101 million spent Nov. 2-30, the study finds.

Other leading ad spenders among 13 top retailers included in the study were: Amazon, $73 million; Macy’s Inc. (No. 7), $62 million; Target, $60 million; and Kohl’s (No. 22), $45 million. Combined, the 13 retailers in the study spent $535 million in TV, online display, newspaper and radio ads, with 36% of that concentrated in the final eight days of November, which include Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The study also notes that while Amazon’s ad budget primarily focuses on digital media, its holiday campaign includes “a significant TV element.” And Wal-Mart aimed its TV messages at promoting the convenience of online shopping.